Duke Energy Florida is soon to commence construction of its demonstration project to produce, store and combust green hydrogen, which will be carried out at its existing facilities in DeBary in the state of Florida.

Power will come from a 74.5 MW solar installation, though the dual electrolysers are each only to be 1 MW; the product hydrogen will be combusted using GE Vernova technology, and will be able to be combusted on its own (and Duke claims it will be the first turbine in the USA to run on such a high percentage of hydrogen) or in a mix with natural gas.

The project is a collaboration between Duke Energy, Sargent and Lundy, and GE Vernova, and is expected to be fully functioning in 2024. A Duke Energy spokesperson said in relation to the project that “hydrogen could play a major role in our clean energy future”, and that it “has significant potential for decarbonisation across all sectors of the U.S. economy”, being “capable of long-duration storage, which would help Duke Energy ensure grid reliability as we continue adding more renewable energy sources to our system.”